#2--April 15, 2019
Nightmares
Peter shoots up in bed, a shout on the tip of his tongue. He manages to swallow it down and a sharp gasp escapes him instead. He’s trembling like he’s walking through a New York blizzard in his pajamas but sweat has built up on his forehead like condensation on a glass of cold water in a hot room.
“Peter, you appear to be in distress,” Friday says, somehow sounding concerned despite not being a human. “Would you like me to call Boss?” Panic shoots through Peter and he shakes his head back and forth vigorously, working his jaw as he tries to get the words out.
“No! No, Fri,” Peter pants out, drawing his knees up to his chest and tucking his head between his arms. “I’m-I’m good. I j-just need to take a few-few deep breaths. Try to calm down a-a little." Despite this, he’s doing the opposite. His heart is climbing in his chest and is beating so hard that Peter can hear it straining against his ribcage and sternum. His teeth are chattering from his shivering and gasps are escaping him as if he’s having the air crushed out of him by tons of concrete.
Well, that’s what it feels like at any rate.
The nightmare is fresh and the images flashing through his mind makes him clench his eyes shut as phantom pain hits him in the center of the chest. It felt so real. The cracking of the support pillars of the car garage, the dust and debris raining down on him as he runs towards Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark’s yell–
Peter’s eyes fly open at the thought and his breathing speeds up even more. Sharp gasps are pulling themselves out of his throat as he looks around him with blurry eyes. All he can see is rubble and darkness. And he can’t see Mr. Stark.
He can’t make out the words Friday are saying past the rushing of blood through his ears. "Mr. Stark?” Peter calls out, his voice strangled as he shouts for his mentor/father figure who he hopes is not being crushed by tons of concrete like he feels that he is.
Tony sent the kid to bed not too long ago. There was a mission today, and despite not wanting to, everyone agreed that yes, they did need Spider-Man’s help. The mission ended well with no casualties save for a few very traumatized and slightly scratched up citizens who were being held captive in a local warehouse.
Some guy and his thirty or so cronies decided that hey! it was a good idea to get on the Avenger’s bad side by kidnapping a few people and daring the Avengers to come at them. So, that’s what they did. Turns out that this guy happened to be some maniac that likes to play with explosive things. The bomb in the center of the room had nearly gone off if it wasn’t for Peter and Tony who dismantled it.
Tony thought nothing of the kid’s shaky voice and pale complexion when they got back to the Compound, thinking that he was just a little tired from staying up half the night in the lab last night after arriving at the Compound. It’s the summer and Aunt May had decided that she and Tony could switch having Peter every two or so weeks. So far, it’s a month in and Tony just got Peter back a day ago.
Now, hearing Friday say that his kid is in distress, Tony knows he fucked up.
The rest of the Avengers are chilling in the common room on Tony’s floor, eating the rest of the pizza and watching some movie about alien dogs or something. They all like the kid, they’ve decided. They haven’t known him long and their first few days together were a little rocky with Peter showing his obvious dislike towards Steve and a few other of the pardoned members. But when they hear that the kid’s in distress, they think nothing when they immediately follow Tony down the hall.
They all crowd around Peter’s door, looking in on the scene. Peter’s trembling on Tony’s lap, his head tucked into the older man’s throat, jumbled words, half-phrases, and the occasional sob escaping him. Tony has this haunted and hard look in his eyes as he whispers to the kid that I’m alright, you’re alright, and Hey, we’re at the Compound in your room, not under tons of concrete and runs his fingers through the boy’s curled hair.
Tony meets the concerned gazes of his team and shakes his head, tightening his hold on his kid. Reluctantly, the group travels down the hall but not before giving Tony this look that says explain. Not more than fifteen minutes later, Tony slinks into the common room looking like he’s just run a marathon. He slumps into the nearest chair and rests his head in his hands for a few moments. Everyone exchanges glances before Steve silently inquires, “What was that?”
Tony lets out this awful sarcastic and choked chuckle, removing his head from his hands and meeting their eyes. “What do you think that was?” he asks rhetorically, sounding a little broken. “The kid’s a superhero. He’s been through some shit. He gets nightmares.”
“That looked a little more than just ‘nightmares’,” Sam says tentatively. “The kid looked like he was having a panic attack." Nearly everyone snaps their attention from Tony’s shaky form to their pseudo-therapist.
"Tony?” Natasha says calmly, leaning forward from her seat beside Wanda and Vision. “Why did you tell Peter that he wasn’t under tons of concrete?" She sounds afraid to hear the answer and everyone else is, too.
Tony clenches his jaw and looks down at his hands. "A year or so ago, a few months after everything went down, this guy was dealing weapons using the Chitauri technology from the battle of New York. Peter discovered it, shit happened, I took the kid’s suit, and it turns out that the guy–the Vulture–was his homecoming date’s father.
"During homecoming, Peter went after the Vulture and ended up at the guy’s operation in a warehouse. Words got exchanged and then the guy knocked out the support pillars of the warehouse before flying off to try and steal my plane–which Peter stopped–and leaving Pete in his stupid homemade suit under tons of rubble." Everyone’s heart drops and their faces pale at the information.
"That guy dropped a warehouse on Peter?” Natasha asks, sounding outright murderous. Tony just nods his head.
“Ever since then Pete’s been having nightmares of warehouses and those multilevel car garages being dropped on him and people he cares about. This time it was me." The room is completely silent as all of the Avengers stare at Tony, who in turn is staring at the floor, guilt weighing him down.
"Poor Peter,” Wanda whispers, her eyes glowing a little red in her emotions.
Tony just nods.